St Helens also do goat butter and goat cream, Waitrose stock them, I am not sure how widely they are available. Oat milk is quite useful for more savoury dishes as well.

My mini goal
Lose 4lb in week one. I am on day 3 and list 1.5 pounds but I have had more like 900 to 1000 calls and on day 2 too many carbs. So today really trying to plan more. Wish me luck.

It sounds like a good recipe, I’d like to make it myself. I had a soup maker for Christmas and am always looking for good ideas for soups. I even have some beetroot, red cabbage, red onions and purple haze carrots in at the moment to go for the whole red theme. Is red wine vinegar allowed I wonder?

I do think the carb counting helped me. Although I lost weight on 5:2 it was nowhere near as fast as when I started really watching the carbs. Even though I am on more than 800 calories at the moment I am still trying to keep to around 50g.

Hi well down 1.5 in 3 days and not quite keeping to 800 more 900 cals but really trying from today!

Beetroot is a root veg and they can be quite high in carbs although I am always of the mind that if something is a good carb and you count it then it is okay. Just dont have it too often and make sure you balance out the rest of the days cals and carbs.

Thank you TumtumP for clearing up my confusion on what % of carbs, fat, protein to log. I use MFP as well and your calculations will make life easier for me

Day seven, lucky seven.

Tomorrow ,Saturday,, I am going to have a lie in, under the duvet, in the warmth, curled up , in that gap between awake and asleep. Nice and dozy. Drifting off and not noticing.
Or
I am going to get up early and spend more time on me. I can wii in the living room. Blow my gusset doing on bed yoga. Go for a cycle in the cold, getting rosy cheeks. I can visit the gym and push myself a little bit more. I can use my old yellow pages as a step, so when the adverts are on, I can do five minutes of stepping. I can do my lunges and see just how strong my tights are. I can walk to the veg shop and ogle at the handsome chappie there. I can go and spot how many Christmas trees are still up after twelfth night.

Eating, I am going to eat some warm buttered crumpets with the butter dribbling down my chin.
Or
I am going to have one damn fine salad of tomatoes, lettuce, radish, spring onions, red onions, carrots, celery, pickles,mustard and cress, watercress, rocket, pine nuts. Mmmmmmm.

Mentally, i am going to imagine pulling the arms and legs off people who ignore me. Who dump work on me and when I need help they turn the other way.
Or
I am going to the watercolour painting in my bed room and examine it. And meditate on it. I love rainbow colours. It is a painting of my favourite flowers as a child.
Red, one of those tulips that three hundred years ago were bought for millions. It has stripes.
Yellow, a clematis called tangutica, thick waxy petals
Pink, rose buds, of the princess Elizabeth rose.
Orange, crocosmia. Hubbys favourite plant , well he had to be in there somewhere.
Purple, gentians and wild violets, I couldn’t decide.
Blue bluebells, wild carpets in the woods.
It has a daisy chain around the bottom.
Primroses that were always in the hedges
A tree called genko biloba, a lovely sappy lime green colour.
All of these remind me of my childhood and make me smile.

I have to make the right decisions all day. Hopefully the right ones.
You going to give it a go?

Have a great day seven.
Love Lucia
Xxxxx

Hi Less to Lose folks, wondering if you do the carb count to keep it under 50g like so many on these forums do? I have no blood sugar issues and about 7kg to lose. I have never Bothered counting carbs and am now sticking to 800 Cala but love salads and carrots and they are a go to snack for me so although I haven’t been watching carbs,
I bet I would be over 50g. Anyway just wondering if anyone has an opinion on whaler the carb counting has helped in their weight loss or just focus on keeping it healthy and the calorie count? Liz

Hi Iwanttobeslim,

I think that you’ve hit the nail on the head for why the research is important. Some diets work for some people and not for others and tweaking them can help with weight loss.

I probably disagree about the food industry. No-one makes people eat anything. It is a competitive consumer industry offering things for people to buy. Carbs are not a problem to a lot of people. Mme Maigret is severely allergic to crab and I could suggest that crab be removed from the human food supply chain. However I understand that some people enjoy it.

Live and let live.

Just count up all the calories in the ingredients. Carbs too if you are counting them.

Are you counting the calories and carbs in your vegetables? Vegetables and greens have carbs. Root vegetables have more carbs than the above ground carbs. Leafy stuff has calories and carbs also. So do condiments and salad dressings, gravy, etc. Coffee creamer, milk, cheese etc. have carbs too. You have to count everything.

Fruit has tons of carbs and calories. Are you eating enough healthy fats (no processed vegetable oils).?

Andy, that’s amazing! I am so impressed! What a wonderful, positive start to the new year. I am about to start on week 3 today (I am in Australia) and have lost 4kgs so far. Your post has given me a boost as now my weight loss will normally start to slow down.
Although I wasn’t pre-diabetic, I had noticed my overall health was not what it used to be. In truth I was about 10 kgs overweight but I’d like to lose 20.
Keep posting because it’s great to read how others are going and lovely to support each other.
CJF62

AndyBB those results are totally awesome! Well done with the big push and over Christmas as well. You might as well keep going 🙂

Hi SunnyB – I know I can choose to use my calories on oils,etc, but they are very calorific, and when you add even “good” carbs, e.g. Chickpeas, the calories mount up so quickly. However, I will persevere. Just recently I have been trying to restrict my eating to 8 out of 24 hours. So far, so good. I do wish fruit fruit was low carb though. One thing I have decided to do is thicken soups with cauliflower or aubergine.

Omg what am I doing wrong ???day 5 now and I have felt hungry most of today and yesterday, I even woke at 2.30am and my tummy was telling I was hungry never had that before ! First 3 days I wasn’t hungry at all day 3 & 4 felt under the weather maybe carb flu, drinking lots of warm water with lemon, counting everything and trying to keep carbs at 50 or less but finding it difficult. I also fast until say 1 – 2 pm so spreading my calories over only 2 meals and am doing dry January too thank goodness as no calories left for drink!

I cook from scratch only good food and am trying very hard !

Lindarina we have homemade sourdough pizza night at ours every Friday too and no plans to stop as quite social and part of our lifestyle. I have done it right through BSD. I fast on the day till dinner though as was doing 5:2 before BSD and find it easy. I still count cals and try and stick to 800 (not always able to) but needless to say the carbs are always way high. Another option is simply eat the topping and don’t eat the base. I figure one day a week is fine and I have continued to lose weight and inches.

Thanks guys for the positive words and encouragement! Really need it.
Day 5 over, and the scales are showing 1.5 lbs lost 🙁
I’ve been really careful with my carb intake i.e I’m not having any carbs at all. No bread, pasta, potatoes, sugars etc…
But I suppose it’s true, everyone’s different and weight loss is individual for everyone.
Will stick with it, hoping to have a euphoric moment soon. Thanks for your replies xx

AnnieW and Raintoday, thank you. I will up my water/fruit tea and let you know how the juice fast goes. So far my tummy is swelling up with all the veg/fruit and I think I may well pop!

My new favourite teas are rose and lemon, and rhubarb, they are Taylors tea and a really nice change to my usual herbal/fruit selection. I do wish there was a magic pill that we could all take and just be lovely and slim! I enjoy food and though I do not eat junk, I only have to look at food to put on weight.

Such is life. Onwards and upwards!

Day 6 into the diet having bought the latest book and enjoying it totally as its making me rethink my dietary habits.
Can anyone tell me if beetroot soup made with red cabbage, vinegar, onion, carrot and beef stock is ok on this diet?
I can’t see why not but i’m a bit surprised that I can’t find any recipes or mention of it anywhere.
Thanks!

I just started the blood sugar diet and my 50th birthday will be in a couple of weeks. I will be celebrating it in the Dominican Republic.
I want to feel proud of how I started, and be well on the way to a lighter me. I am not setting a weight minigoal, more a behaviour one. I will have established good exercise habits and diet routines.
My all-inclusive in the Dominican Republic will be a bit of a challenge, as drinks are included. Especially Pina Coladas, I really hope they do not make them the way I love them, in a blender with ice from real pineapple. 😀

Talking of tea, Assam is a really nice general cuppa, but I would avoid Lapsang Souchong. There is a place for smoky bacon flavour and it isn’t in my teacup.

Hi Verano
I like using infusers because you’re more in control of how long the tea brews for – with many, when you have poured one cup, the water level is below the infuser, so the tea stays stable, without moving on from brewing to stewing, and getting too strong or bitter.
With the infuser that I mentioned in an earlier post, you can simply take it out.
If I make a pot of tea, it can easily be half an hour before I drink the second cup, but it would taste horrid if it continued to brew for that long. (I have an excellent tea cosy to keep it hot)
At Pekoe tea in Edinburgh, they bring your tea to the table along with a beautiful timer – its like 3 egg timers in a single stand, that take differing times for each colour, so that you let the tea to brew for the correct amount of time.

Have a fantastic trip to London California Girl – Twinings is definitely worth visiting, but there are so many tea shopping opportunities that you could end up going home with a suitcase full of tea if good tea is hard to track down at home. As well as Yumchaa which have several branches, there’s a place called The Tea House at Covent Garden, and Froglet’s cat sitter works in a place called Tea2you in borough market – Borough Market is a foodie paradise, and well worth a visit.

JulesMaigret – I was lucky with my passport. It expired this March, so I got it renewed in December ready for Italy in March.

I’m getting used to size 10 clothes and ‘small’ tights but, yesterday, bought a belt (labelled ‘small’) and today had to return it because it was too big😱😀

Hi Raintoday — yes we are not far apart! Although Morgan Hill (south of San Jose) is like a world apart from Santa Rosa! We are so much more dry and usually hotter in summer too — you all are greener, we are more “golden grassy” by May!
I found the BSD last March when we were in London and I brought it home and never looked back — it has changed everything about how I eat! I got to goal in June and am maintaining — ate a few more cookies at Christmas but it didn’t cause damage.
On the good book front — I swear by (and constantly post here, to the probable tiredness of all) Gary Taubes book “How We Get Fat and What To Do About It” — best carb information ever. Also they just published this month his new book, “The Case Against Sugar” which I keep meaning to pick up at a bookstore!!
We have a well so I am truly hoping our epic storm turns out to be that good!!!

Hi TheThelwelPony – you don’t say how long you have been doing the Fast 800. If it is sometime, your appetite has probably reduced considerably. I find some days I don’t feel hungry at all now and sometimes feel over full when eating small amounts. If you are new to the BSD and not used to drinking the amount required, this is probably making you feel really full and you might need longer, for your body to get used to the new regime.
Mixnmatch is right about the cheese and nuts – looking to include a little more fat to help use up our calories is a good way to go. Adding olive oil to a salad dressing, eating oily fish and advocado are also good ways of adding calories as fat. However, maybe see if you can have a day or two a week on less cals then maybe you will feel more like getting your 800cals – or more – on the other days. So a little more like the 5:2 way of eating.
Keep us posted on progress.

Raintoday you may not find kalettes. They are a new British hybrid of kale and sprouts, which they have been working on for 15years! I have some and tried one raw. Hmm can’t tell except they have a hard white stem, which will probably soften when cooked, and they have the appearance of a ‘curly’ sprout. Will report back after I’ve tried them cooked.

Another unintended consequence for me…….a favourite necklace sits lower than it did and a special bracelet I bought when my mums affairs were sorted is much lesser on my wrist than it was. (another one……I can pull my big knickers up to under my bust;-)
Oh and my size 22 m& s jeans are really baggy now.

Jmarie, I laughed when I read your comment about not being motivated without the watch….yesterday I thought I’d go out for a second walk but didn’t bother because I couldn’t record the steps! How crazy is that?

Good luck with the rainstorm. Here we’ve just had a cold weather alert..only -2 but that’s cold for here and people are crazy on the roads..

Hi Lulu Taboo – not sure how you are planning to use these, but looking at the carb content, they are pretty high. The calculator I use says 50g of uncooked millet contains 189cals and 36.4g carbs. If you are going to use them sparingly as some sort of topping (perhaps on yogurt with other seeds) I would say fine, as long as you account for the cals and carbs in your daily allowance. However, in my opinion, using them in large quantities would not be a great idea, due to the carb content.

Interesting Jules I usually only use ‘glass’ for wine! Will try glass for tea. I’m sure my grandmother used a glass for tea and drank it black with lemon and a sugar cube in her mouth!

Fascinating stuff. Not sure who started the ‘tea’ story, may have been Daisiesmum, but the person did say she thought it would cause as much talk as the weather does amongst the English …. right on!!!

I do have an old twinings earl grey caddy and it is very strong so worth going for tea in those. The glass teapot with the ceramic diffuser looks lovely. I have never made tea by that method. How different is it than just leaves in a teapot with a strainer?

Ah well it started yesterday, lunch was fine salmon and salad but the wine won out last night along with crisps, cheese and biscuits, pistachio nuts – woke up feeling miffed but then a friend gave me a box of biscuits – portuguese type, single layer, jammy dodger small type – so me and other half scoffed the lot between us. Tomorrow the day will begin anew and especially as I have told other half that we will NOT be buying our usual white wine from the local adega – too dangerous to stick glass under spout – you know the thing – so I will be guzzling my fizzy water merrily. Not too bothered just miffed. Thanks for the support Sunny B lol

Thank you all. I feel lifted and positive again. Hope I can support you too. 😃👍. We’re just off to a Pantomime so will have to run the gauntlet of icecreams and maltesers! 😬 Wish me luck x

Californiagirl – up in Santa Rosa – Sonoma County
I heard about BSD I think through just Google-searching low-carb or reversing diabetes ….. not real sure. First book I read was Blood Sugar 101 (J Ruhls ? author) just after diagnostic labs came back in July ’16 – in there she described a slow approach and a rapid approach to bringing down blood sugars (388 scared me – apparently not so much my doc) so, being who I am, I went for rapid. Eat anything as long as not carby or sugar – her approach did not emphasize low cal as MM does but it got me off to an excellent start ! Lots of good info in that book – readable – very helpful. I wanted more info (bit of an info junkie over here) so I kept looking – also needed info on getting some balance back into diet. I liked BSD immediately as he uses carbs in sane amts – also fruits. Then read some of the forums and am hooked – the support is so damn helpful as well as reading others’ struggle and successes – food ideas too – have not noticed any kalettes around here though – lots of ‘baby kale’ much more palatable than that Dino stuff – all good.
Tea – unfortunately, I like honey in my black tea so not doing black tea – I do like Trader Joes ginger/turmeric blend and Stash tea licorice root tea – both naturally sweet taste so fill the need nicely.
Would be good to meet up some time as we are practically neighbors – I get to Pleasant Hill regularly for family – also planning an Ikea trip to Emeryville at some point in next couple months …. ?
Good luck w/gardening this weekend – you will need it – plenty of water, now just gotta deal with drainage ….

Ooh thanks for recommendations! Will check out Harney and Sons and I will go have tea at the Twinings tea house when I am in London next month!! So many good ideas! 😀

California girl – have you looked at Harney & Sons? They are a master tea blender based in NY – might be worth a shot? It says that they use oil of bergamot, not flavouring…

Dona Rosa – you didn’t say what went wrong, but I’m sure it is not a complete disaster. This is a marathon, not a sprint and we all have off days, when things get away from us. Draw a line under it, refocus and get back on track. You’ll probably be surprised how little the damage is when you take your results.

Hi Xmas Slim and everyone else,

So I had my follow up blood test on the 29th and the results appointment this evening.

I was certainly feeling optimistic as since the 5th Dec I’ve lost a fair bit of weight and that’s with a restricted calorie diet for the fist 3 weeks (see above) and following the principles of the 800 cals BSD with the occasional festive vino to boot since Christmas Day.

The Doc was massively impressed and was kind enough to write down the results for comparison.

I started on the 5th Dec at 126.7 kgs and weighed in this morning at 115.0.

My initial HbAlc was 44 and that’s now down to 36. The Doc says that between 21 – 41 is normal, so I’m no longer pre-diabetic.

Also my BP is down from 160/100 to 134/80.

And that’s all in around 5 weeks!

Appreciate that I’ve still got around 40 kgs to lose but these numbers have given me a real boost in confidence and as you can imagine the blood sugar numbers are a real relief.

More than happy to keep updating this thread if anyone’s interested but either way I wish everyone the very best of success and health!

Andy

Has anyone tried this recipe in a container to make a loaf shape?
The recipe say dollop it onto baking sheet for rolls but I would like to make it into more of a sandwich shape to cut.
thanks x

Hi Kimkai – my advise would be to check how you are using your calories, as not all calories are equal. Take a look at the carbs that you are taking in with the calories and try to get them at about 50g or less a day. Include some good fats in your cals as well, as this will help to kick start the fat burning process.
Try not to be too disheartened and stick with it – logic says that if you are on 800cals a day, the weight has to drop at some point! It will happen, it’s just that we are all different and lose at different rates. Like you, I lose slowly. It is frustrating sometimes, especially when you read of folks losing pounds and pounds each week, but try not to see the success of others as your failure. You will have positive results soon, so embrace them when they happen and use them as a stepping stone to your next achievement.
Good luck … we’ll look forward to reading you positive results soon.

Meant to say TumTumP……well done on getting your HbA1c to the normal range………these results reflect how well your diabetes is being controlled as it reveals blood glucose levels over a period of approx 8- 12 weeks rather than one off snapshot of a fasting test or the daily peaks and troughs of blood glucose so you’re getting better control of your sugars overall …..it’s a better indicator and is fab for you . Undoubtedly your cholesterol and FBS should be within normal ranges when you next get tested well done on your journey xxxxxx.

I use glass occasionally (yep, even though they’re not white, my only exception!) – it’s about being able to see the colour well.

I hadn’t realised that Suki have such a wide range of teas – I’ve only tried their loose leaf breakfast tea.
I drink Early Grey occasionally – I prefer Lady Grey, which is a more citrussy blend, and I think has less bergamot, so less “perfumy” – but it could just be that the bergamot is tempered down a bit by the citrus. It’s widely available in supermarkets, in bags or loose leaf.
Lady Grey is trademarked by Twinings, so other tea houses will have variations of it, but with a different name “Secret Herb Garden Duchess Grey Tea” is a favourite.

Twinings is an interesting company – in addition to all of the supermarket teas, they have an amazing Tea House on the Strand in London, with a huge variety of amazing teas, and a sampling counter, but weirdly, no cafe, but I suspect they are limited by space. Its a timber framed building just opposite the Royal Courts of Justice – apparently a trend setter in the 1700’s.
They also stock the standard teabags that you can buy in a supermarket, but they come in a very posh carrier bag if you get them here! They have an online shop too – and a sale, I just looked.
The loose tea that they sell in a caddy is good value, the caddy itself is excellent quality and more than just a tin! Very reusable.
Having looked at the sale, I am now lusting after a glass teapot with a ceramic infuser. A white ceramic infuser.

Oh and print them out as required (forgot that bit) lol

Hi Fifi and Flo – Tumtump is right, this was not a fail and we all have little blips, ‘cos we’re only human. You made good choices and kept control of the carbs and I think if you calculate it, the cals probably weren’t a complete disaster either. We are in this for the long haul, so some days you’ll go over the cals and some under – overall it will balance out. I am sure when you weigh and measure at the end of your first week, you will be pleasantly surprised. Please make sure you let us know your results.

Stop beating yourself up, ‘cos it is counterproductive and makes it more likely you’ll become despondent and era again. Just refocus and get back on track straight away.

Ah thank you so much for your replies. I did try to buy what I thought were Mediterranean style low carb foods but didn’t mean to eat the lot! But thank you for your support. Am sticking to the evening meal I’d planned so won’t be heading down the chocolate route 👍

Take a photo of the page and keep in a folder on the computer, just a suggestion, I have not tried it myself.

Hi

You can reset it to 800 calories and add whatever mix of protein, fats, carbs you want. Go the ‘My Goals’ section and select ‘Calories and Macros’. You’ll be able to change it in there. At the bottom of your daily diary , if you go to the bottom it says ‘Nutrition’ – if you click on there it will list your P F C percentages, show you pie charts of the split between the three by day and also a daily view of calories at each meal.
I’ve calculated ( please don’t take this as the only truth, I might have it wrong!) that 50g carbs is 25% of daily intake on 800 cals. I then split protein and fat in the remaining 75% to be slightly in fats favour. If my weight loss isn’t good I will swap it the other way.
I find writing down both calorie and carb content of foods useful -apparently its the low carb that is most effective.
Hope this helps

Thank you so much TumTumP for taking the trouble to assist with some thoughtful and great ideas…..I do think it’s all about adapting to this new way of life and eating….I think he’d love the idea of sliced meat as wraps …..I must admit I sent him some recipes I thought he might turn his nose up at……..but they’re all full of flavour and many disguised !
Thanks also for the breakdown in percentages very handy!
I abandoned the Atkins very early on due to Ketosis stinking breath!!!!!
Hope your New Year is great for you !

I was in Germany working and in the hotel reception they had a “help yourself” selection of leaf teas with little glass mugs. I tried a few and the tea tasted really good in them.

On a more prosaic note, it allows you to see the colour of the tea and some of them are a really nice colour.

Where are you in Northern California Raintoday? I’m in Morgan Hill and JMarie41 is in the east bay (Livermore I think) — just curious how you heard of the BSD?
As a non-initiated American, I am really appreciating the tea discussion and picking up pointers for my next trip to the UK. I love Earl Grey and last year was lucky enough to buy Earl Grey with real bergamot, not the Twinings bergamot-flavoring — that was such an eye-opener!! SO much better!! Now I am hooked but we can’t get that kind of tea here, have to buy in London.
MaryC — sorry you have a slow start but maybe reconsider the juice fast — juice is exactly the wrong thing to eat if you want to lower your insulin levels — it has all the sugar and no fiber. Better way to jump start is to go very very low carb. Hope that helps. Don’t give up!!
We are currently forecast to get a “storm of the century” in Northern California this weekend — we shelved our plan to ski due to road danger — I guess I will grub in garden instead — sigh.